


Les Couleurs du Monde (An Enjolras Fanfiction)

by laviebohemme



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, Cute romance, F/M, On The Barricade, Pre-Barricade, So much angst, you will cry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-19 16:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3615951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laviebohemme/pseuds/laviebohemme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elise Rosier thought she would be nothing more than an opera worker's adopted daughter. She wasn't a beggar, yet she wasn't a noble. An ordinary middle class girl. She thought she'd be useless and unappreciated. She never would have thought that she was going to be a revolutionary. And she never thought she'd fall in love. This is the story of Elise Rosier, her love for a certain friend of the ABC, and their struggles to win France freedom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Opera House

_My name is Elise Rosier and this is my story._

 

"Mama, are you feeling okay?" Elise whispered to her mother, in the room in the back of the Paris Opera House.   
"I'm fine, Lizzie," she smiled weakly before coughing. Elise felt her glistening forehead. "You're burning up," she mumbled, reaching for the cloth and bowl of water by her bedside table, and applying the cool cloth to her mother's head.   
It pained her, just like it would to any daughter, so to see her mother in this situation. Though Meg wasn't exactly her biological mother, she had raised Elise as if she were her own. She was the one who was always there for Elise, whose mother passed away and father never visited even though he sent letters every so often.   
Elise wanted her to get better, but she had contracted the white plague, the illness there is no cure for. And every day she got worse.   
"Try to eat some rest, mama. I'm gonna go meet up with Éponine if that's fine with you," Elise murmured as a weak smile grew on her face.  
"Go ahead," Meg whispered with a loving smile before having a coughing fit.

 

* * *

 

Éponine led Elise to the Café Musain. It was a sort of tavern, but they were just going to have a little chitchat there, which would undoubtedly involve Éponine showing Elise her heartthrob- that Pontmercy boy. However, when the two friends entered, they seemed to have walked into the middle of a meeting.   
There were many students there, all sitting at tables and listening to one of them talking; it was a blonde young man with curly locks of hair and a red coat. Something about him radiated strength and leadership.   
Éponine nudged Elise and pointed to the boy who sat near the speaker, mouthing _"That's Marius."_    
So that was the boy that Éponine is so in love with.   
Marius glanced around the room and paused when he saw Éponine. Soon enough, he was pushing his way carefully through the young men to where we stood at the end of the room.

"'Ponine! What are you doing here?" asked Marius, somewhat confused as to why the Thénardier girl, of all people, was there.   
"Just wanted to talk someplace with my friend," Ponine smiled.  
"Well, there's a meeting going on right now of the Friends of the ABC that I told you about. I say, you should listen in! Maybe you'll get interested in joining us!" he said, his tone brightening a bit before turning to Elise.   
"I think we should," Éponine responded airily, gazing at Marius dreamily.   
"And I'm guessing you're one of Eponine's friends. My name is Marius Pontmercy," Marius said, turning to Elise and bowing slightly.   
"Elise Rosier," I responded. "It's a pleasure," I said as I mused, wondering how Marius could be so ignorant and oblivious to Éponine's feelings towards him.   
He smiled. "Will you be joining the meeting?"   
The two young women nodded and he led them to his table next to the speaker, and he pulled out some seats for them.

The blonde was going on about revolting; the focus was to recruit more protesters so that they could overthrow King Charles X.   
"We need to get rid of Charles. His reactionary policies are ruining us! He gives more power to the aristocrats! What do the poor have to say? When we tried to speak our minds, he censored the press! The poor need to speak up and right this wrong. We need to end this suffering. We want change!" he finished exuberantly, raising a fist in the air. "Vive la France! Vive la France!" Everyone chanted, joining him.

By then, due to her open mindedness, Elise had accepted the idea of a revolution. It appealed to her anyway, since she'd thought about it before. Not a day passed by in which she didn't see people starving to death on the streets. She had the luck to be adopted by a woman in the middle class who had a respectable job. She had a home. She had food. But Elise wasn't oblivious to the beggars on the street, the prostitutes forced to sell their bodies to make a living, and the thieves who need to steal only to sell their wares in order to purchase food. And Elise decided that she wanted to be a part of this revolution, the movement that would right these wrongs.

"Enjolras, over here!" said Marius, waving over the student who was giving the speech. "He's the one in charge, I guess you could say," murmured Marius to me as the blonde made his way over. "He really is the one leading all of us."  
" _Oui?_ " Enjolras said as he walked up to the trio.   
"These are two new recruits. Yes, I know they're girls, but they can be great help! You said it yourself, we need as many supporters as possible," said Marius to him, who turned and left to speak to Courfeyrac after clapping Enjolras on the back.  
"Thank you," Enjolras nodded towards Marius before smiling faintly at the two girls, his eyes wandering over their faces in a calculating manner. Elise could have sworn he spent forever staring her straight in the eyes. She couldn't really say anything about it though, as she was doing the same. "  
My name is Enjolras Rousseau." he said quickly, bowing slightly.   
"Éponine Thénardier." said Éponine.   
"My name is Elise Rosier," Elise smiled softly, providing the surname she had given herself long ago, when she wanted to feel independent from both her adopted and natural families. Marius had slipped back into the group.   
"So you're both interested in assisting us and participating for our cause? You both want to win the people of France freedom and take down the monarchy?" asked Enjolras, who looked Elise in the eye for a few seconds before quickly averting his eyes to Éponine's forehead, or something like that.   
The two girls nodded.   
"Yes, Monsieur," Elise said politely.   
"Welcome, then." he smiled faintly, nodding at them. "I apologize, but I have things to do. Remember that the next meeting is going to be here in two days time at dusk," he said, turning away.

Éponine walked Elise to her home at the Paris Opera House.   
"Is your mother any better?" Éponine queried when they were nearing the Opera House.  
"No, she's a bit worse," Elise frowned, gazing up at the night sky. "I hope she gets better though."  
"I do too. She's really very nice." Éponine smiled sympathetically.  
They stopped at the entrance. Since Éponine was of the lower class, she would be frowned upon if she entered the building. Elise reached into the bosom of her dress and pulled out three francs, slipping them into Éponine's hand.  
"It's my wage from this week's extra help. Share it with Gavroche," she whispered. Elise knew that Éponine refused to take other people's money, but their friendship had developed to the point where Éponine knew that whatever sous Elise spared weren't because she pitied her.  
"Merci, Lizzie," Éponine said, flashing her a radiant smile before dashing off on her way, leaving her alone to enter the Opera House.

Elise walked into her mother's room, and to her surprise, she saw a sleeping Meg being taken care of by a woman with long locks of curly chocolate hair. It was Christine, a close friend of Meg's from her younger years as a dancer.   
"Mrs. Daae, how are you?" Elise said politely.   
"I am well, Elise," she smiled. That smile, however, only lasted a moment before fading away.   
"Elise, I have to tell you something," she said softly, lowering her voice so as not to wake Meg.   
"Yes?" Elise said, looking questioningly at her.  
"My best friend, your stepmother... she doesn't have much time to live," she mumbled, tears starting to fill her eyes.   
Elise's mouth dropped open, and she shut it quickly. How could she live without her mother? She was speechless. What was one to say at a difficult time like this?  
Elise over at they frail and now underweight body on the bed and felt the tears coming on. No, she had to stay strong.   
'I need to, or else nothing good will happen. It'll just feel worse.'  
"She's very weak, Elise, but have faith. The Lord will guide his healing hand onto her in her times of need," whispered Christine, patting Elise softly in the back as she dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.  
Elise smiled softly at her. She was going to go the cathedral. But before that, she had something to do. So she stood up, going to her own little room and pulling out a pen and ink.

She took a seat at her little desk of sorts, which was a rather nice mahogany, even though she really didn't care at the moment. She set down some paper and filled the pen with the ink. Setting the point onto the paper, she wrote:

 

 

 

 

> _Father,_   
>  _Meg is now at the end of her line. Her continuous cough is getting more and more violent now. Her fever is extremely high now and she is very weak. My presence in the same little home as her disturbs her since I have to walk through her room to get to mine. If I keep staying here, she's sure to die faster._   
>  _I beg of you, please keep up to date with my letters. I know you are very busy with your job. But I have nowhere to go if Meg passes. If she does, I'll just be another beggar on the streets of Paris. I just need to know if you could possibly consider taking me in._   
>  _I do not ask for much. I have my own wage from working here at the Opera House and I can continue working here. Yes, I know that the reason I was adopted by Meg in the first place was because Mother died and you couldn't possibly take care of me while you take your job so seriously. But I'm older now and I promise I won't interfere with anything._   
>  _Please consider this, Father._
> 
> _**Elise.** _

Elise slipped the sheet of paper into an envelope and sealed it. Rising up from her seat, she slipped out of her home and dropped the letter off at a busy square, where she found a messenger boy and said as she handed him a few sous: "You'll know where this goes. Just see the name on the letter. Make sure he receives it right away, little monsieur."   
Elise loped towards the cathedral that was near the Opera House. The candlelight glowed out through the stained glass windows of the church, creating a beautiful display that was prominent against the starry night sky. Slipping into the cathedral, she headed to one of the pews and knelt down, clasping her gloved hands together and looking up at the crucifix that was on the wall behind the altar.  
"Dear Lord, help us through our times of need. Use your holy healing powers to cure the ill. Grant us the power to right this country. France deserves no king. Why can't the poor be equal to the rich? Didn't your son die for us all?" Elise whispered, closing her eyes. And so she spent her evening praying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this fanfiction two years ago on Wattpad under my account xalwaysxx13. It's a piece I'm very fond of, and for the past few months I had actually debated on whether I should also share it with the readers at AO3; a glance back at all of the positive reviews and comments I received over these years was what convinced me to do so.  
> I honestly love the Les Mis fandom so much and seeing how so many people read and enjoyed it made me want to share it with you guys, too. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! I hope to hear from a few of you soon. :)


	2. An Unexpected Meeting

Two days later, Elise went out to the Café Musain again.   
Éponine was waiting outside for her and they entered together. This time, they had actually come early and had a chance both before and after the meeting to meet the students behind the revolutionary ideas. Elise almost felt overwhelmed; everywhere she looked were bright young men whose names she'd only started learning, and they all seemed so kind and passionate for the cause.

During the speeches and talks, Elise's wandering eyes couldn't resist landing on Enjolras quite a few times. There was something about him, other than his physical beauty, that made him compellingly interesting. Maybe it was the way his icy blue eyes seemed to have a fire in them while he fervently discussed the injustices in France. Elise didn't know. One of those times he'd caught sight of her and and a faint blush rose to Elise's cheeks and she found herself smiling at him softly. To her surprise, he showed a hint of a smile back before he glanced away and resumed his usual serious facade for looking at the person who was currently speaking. Elise realized that she should return her attention to the meeting.

The meeting consisted of more planning and organizing things that would allow the students a better chance at winning the revolution, since they seemed slim at the moment. They spoke about schemes they had. They were going to wait until the perfect opportunity; a moment that hundreds of people would be watching, so that they could use that momentous event to make make their first move. It would start with a protest in the middle of the city.   
Elise debated very strongly with herself about attending it though. _If my father were to find out, it would be the end of me._ Elise thought. But it was still the right thing to do, wasn't it? She settled on deciding that later.  
  
Suddenly she stood up, pumping her fist in the air in a very unladylike way. "Vive la France!" ended the group, and the small crowd started breaking up. Éponine and Marius started chatting, and Elise simply listened, not really interested on the subject they were talking about.   
"Aren't I right, Lizzie?" asked Éponine, nudging Elise, a grin on her face.

"Yeah," Elise muttered, staring blankly ahead. Quite abruptly, she realized she had been staring at a certain blond for a while, unaware of it. She quickly dropped her gaze.  
Éponine's grin faltered. "Lizzie? Are you okay?"   
"Completely," I smiled softly, shaking my head dismissively.   
"Hit your head?" she said, her worry disappearing and being replaced by her usual careless self.   
Elise chuckled, holding the blue, white, and red cockade she received earlier in her hands and fiddled around with it before deciding to pin it in her hair as Marius and Éponine continued talking. Elise couldn't help but notice the blatantly dreamy look Éponine gave Marius while he simply kept talking unaware.   
  
  
Someone tapped Elise on the shoulder and I turned, realizing that it was Enjolras. _"What would he want with me?_  " she thought.  
"Hello," Elise smiled.   
"Hello," he said, bowing his head at her for a moment. "What did you think of today's dictions?"   
"They were quite good," she admitted, thinking back to the speeches. "They were powerful and motivational, which is just what we needed. I can't wait until that moment we're waiting for. The moment we make our move." By this time, Elise had taken the revolution to heart. It was beginning to become very important to her.  
He nodded, glancing around the cafe. "Mademoiselle, you really are interested in this, aren't you?"  
" _Oui,_ I can't stand walking through the streets seeing the poor suffer like that." Elise muttered.  
Enjolras paused in thought for a while. "Care to take a walk with me sometime and discuss it?"   
"I'd love to," Elise smiled.  
He turned, as someone had just called his name. Glancing back, he said, "Wonderful. Meet me here tomorrow then. At the same time." he smiled faintly, his ocean blue eyes gazing into Elise's light brown ones before he turned and left.   
  
Éponine said something to Marius, and she turned to Elise.  
"What did he want?" she said, gesturing to the departing Enjolras.   
"Nothing, 'Ponine," elise smiled. "I'd better get going."   
Her friend smirked, and said, "Alright."  
And so, Elise exited the cafe and walked to the Opera House, the night wind coolly blowing. As she walked, she gingerly slid the cockade into her coat pocket.  
  
  
  
  
The previous few days had been exceptionally rainy and humid. The sky was overcast and the warm summer wind swept along the city of Paris. The waters came each day since the ominous clouds first appeared, and that particular day was no exception.  
  
Hastily walking toward the Opera House, which was a good quarter hour's walk away, the young woman felt the rain start to prickle the skin on her face. The heavens were starting to rain down on the city of Paris yet again. The girl picked up her pace as the rain thickened and pulled her cloak over her head. She was walking at a very fast pace by now, only narrowly avoiding the large puddles as she went along.   
The girl, Elise, soon arrived at the entrance to the Opera House. She opened its doors (which were shut to keep the rain out and off of the precious carpeting), stepped in, and headed towards the doors leading to the abodes, but was suddenly halted by a serious voice.   
The initial surprise of being called out to wore off as she turned to see who it was.

It was the Police Inspector Javert.  
  
Most would have been petrified by his presence. Others would nervously try to escape the room unnoticed by the intimidating Inspector. And yet, this simple girl, Elise, only walked up to him. No fear at all. She stopped at a mere meter from him. Again, most would keep a measure of thirty feet away for fear of being arrested. What was possibly the strangest thing that had happened though, was the fact that she actually smiled up at him. However, even more strange was the fact that what she said to him was indeed, "Hello, Father."


	3. Away

Elise's greeting to Police Inspector Javert may be a greeting you'd be perplexed to be coming across given the situation. The austere man had in fact once had a family; a wife and a daughter. They were exactly what was to be expected of virtuous families. The wife had worked diligently as a seamstress while Javert of course, enforced the law, and the daughter, Elise, stayed with her mother as she worked. Her mother tended to her as she worked. She was the only one who could take care of her as it was obviously unfit of a police inspector to bring his child to work. And that was how they had lived until Elise turned two years old.   
The wife had caught tuberculosis, the same illness that was threatening to take Meg's life, and passed away, leaving Javert to take care of Elise by himself. It was impossible for him, so he reluctantly sent her off to Meg Giry (an acquaintance of his and a close friend of Elise's mother) to be taken in by her. Meg was able to raise her to become the current Elise.   
During all of those years apart, Elise always kept in touch with her father and sent letter after letter to him, which he of course responded to. She'd learned of his ideals, of the law, of what was right, of God, of the only criminal who had ever escaped him, and of many other things. She'd always agreed. Her father was a prominent figure in her mind and she never doubted him. However, The King was to be highly respected in her father's eyes. This was where her loyalty to her father wavered.   
After passing through the slums of Paris with 'Ponine daily and spending time with the students, it occurred to Elise that maybe her father was wrong for once. The King wasn't to be respected; he was to be overthrown. And now we return to the present situation in the entrance hall of the Opera House.   
  
"Hello, Father," said Elise, looking pleasantly up at Javert.  
Having this been the first time he'd seen her in many years, he marveled at how old she'd gotten. She was one of the few things left on the face of Earth that he could say he loved. The only other things he would admit to loving would be justice, the law, God, and the monarchy.   
  
"Elise, pack your things. I've decided to take you in," he said, studying his daughter carefully.   
"Yes, papa," she piped, running off to her room to fetch her things.   
  
She left a letter explaining where she would be on Meg's bedside table since she was sleeping. She large case with all of her belongings and garments out to where Javert was, and they both set off to his- their-home.  
  
  
  
After setting up the empty room with all of her things, Elise slipped down for dinner. As they were eating, they spoke idly, (the conversation having been started by Elise, of course).   
"Those damn students are thinking about rebelling against our king. Isn't that idiotic? The king is right, they should be hanged. I despise those boys so."  
The image of all her friends hung by the neck sent shivers down Elise's spine. "But why would the punishment need to be so cruel? They only want a change."  
"My dear," said Javert, "That's what's the problem. They want to get rid of the monarch and _vote_." (He spat out that last word) "What they want is strictly against our morals; it is unethical. Against what is right."  
Elise frowned. That was certainly not what she thought of the revolutionary plans. For her, the change would be a change for the better. The people needed to change this nation. Getting up, she pushed her chair in, deciding that it would be best to hold her tongue.   
"Where are you going, Elise?" asked Javert, his eyebrow raised questioningly.   
"Bed, Papa. I'm heading over to the bookstore tomorrow. I'll spend the whole day there, so don't worry if I'm not home by dusk." she murmured, heading over to her father and kissing his cheek softly. It was he who had ensured that Meg found a way to have someone educate her, actually. And with that, Elise headed upstairs to bed.   
Had anyone been in the room with Javert, they might have seen an inkling of a smile on his face, but they probably wouldn't have even believed their eyes.


End file.
